East Dunbartonshire and Dumfries in Scotland recorded the second biggest rises in house prices based on Halifax’s own house price data.
The average property price in Conwy in North Wales has increased by 13% (£18,506) over the past year from £144,185 in 2009 to £162,691 in 2010. East Dunbartonshire saw a 12% increase and prices were up 11% in Dumfries and Galloway.
Ten of the twenty counties delivering the highest house price growth in 2010 are in the South East or the South West. In contrast, just two counties in the North of England, Cheshire and County Durham, are in the top twenty, seeing prices increases of 5% and 4% respectively.
The top house price performers are predominantly areas with above average house prices.
Fourteen counties have an average house price in excess of £200,000. Surrey is the most expensive county in the UK with an average house price of £296,344 while Blaenau Gwent in Wales is the least expensive county in the UK with an average house price of £86,385.
Over the past five years, many of the counties delivering the highest house price growth are in Scotland. The best performing county was Aberdeenshire with the average house price in the Scottish county increasing by 46%.
Seven of the top ten are in Scotland with the remaining three all in Northern Ireland. English countries accounted for just three, Oxfordshire, Somerset and East Sussex, out of the twenty top performing counties.
‘Many of the counties recording the best house price performance in 2010 are in the south of England, reflecting the general outperformance of the housing market in this part of the country,’ said Suren Thiru, housing economist at Halifax.
‘Looking forward, we predict that UK house prices at the end of 2011 will be at a broadly similar level to that at the end of 2010. We do, however, expect some modest variations in house price performance across the country. Prices are expected to be strongest in southern England as this part of the country is likely to fare better economically,’ Thiru explained.
‘House prices outside southern England are likely to be constrained by a greater dependence on public sector employment at a time when this sector will be under pressure due to the government's public spending reductions,’ Thiru added.
